The Walking Dead's central protagonist Rick Grimes goes to extreme lengths of violence in the comics that he never reaches in the television show. Throughout the comics run it takes a few encounters and deaths for Rick to ease into the feared leader that his group needs to survive the newfound zombie infested world, making the tough choices and sacrifices needed to ensure the safety of his survivors.
It is not only his family that Rick is attempting to protect throughout the comic series, but an entire group of survivors. Along with of the undead, the survivors are constantly targeted by human opponents. In dealing with these threats, Rick must abandon all his humanity and embrace much darker tendencies. These often-cruel decisions may not make Grimes sleep the best come night, but at the end of the day his people can live. Rick's personal journey throughout The Walking Dead comics begins in one of the series' most iconic locations, the Meriwether County Correctional Facility.
Following the ruthless murder of farmhand Hershel Greene's younger daughters Rachel and Susie, Rick pinpoints the culprit to be Thomas Richards. a bloody and mangled right hand, foreshadowing his later amputation at the hands of The Governor.
After learning that every remaining human on Earth will become a zombie regardless of the manner in which they are killed, Rick takes a trip down memory lane on his lonesome. Traveling back to the old Atlanta camp via motorcycle, Rick digs up the resting place of his deceased friend and assailant Shane. Rick is eventually welcomed with the zombified remains of his former police partner. Reminiscing on the potential of their relationship, Rick does away with any remnants of his past life by shooting zombie Shane. With that needed closure, Rick leaves Shane's exhumed body for the other zombies and returns to the prison.
As participants of a never-ending zombie apocalypse, it's safe to say that neither Rick nor any other of his group are ever in the best state of mind. However, Rick's psyche is particularly a cause for concern during his early days at the prison. This declining mental state leads Rick to deliver a speech that shakes not only the other survivors but also comic fans to their core. Rick is recuperating from a recent brawl with Tyreese and wakes up to find that he has been usurped as leader. While the survivors have retained some semblance of hope that other survivors or even a military presence are on the way, Rick makes it clear that isn't the case. He informs his team of the harsh realities of their situation to prepare the survivors for the horrors ahead of them. While this famous WE ARE THE WALKING DEAD moment would eventually be adapted for the TV series, the circumstances and context are drastically different. If anything, Rick's comic speech is much more in line with the Ricktatorship established at the conclusion of the show's second season.
If there was ever a scene that showcased what a truly terrifying force Rick can be, it's the opening s of issue #66. Nearing the conclusion of the horrifying Fear the Hunters arc, Rick and several of his group have finally traced their cannibalistic opponents to their forest hideout. Longing for vengeance against the villains for their capture and mutilation of group elder Dale, Rick and his pack easily outmaneuver each of the Hunters. With the survivor's primary sharpshooter Andrea waiting in the wings, Rick taunts the Hunters leader Chris. He then orders his group to hold the Hunters down, and they proceed to inflict brutal justice on their captors. While a version of this is shown on the television series, the scene in the comics keeps the exact torture inflicted by Rick ambiguous. This actually serves to make the brutality more horrifying, and underscores the plunge into darkness that Rick Grimes takes throughout the course of The Walking Dead comic series.
